There is great concern in government and in the food packaging industry for potential environmental hazards associated with disposable plastic containers used in the packaging and sale of beverages such as milk, water, juice, etc., other liquids or semi-liquids (viscous fluids) such as detergents, ketchup, etc., as well as flowable non-liquids such as powders, granules, and salts, etc. It has been estimated, for example, that in the dairy industry alone, as much as 500 million pounds of plastic are required each year for consumer oriented containers, virtually all of which eventually find their way to landfills and/or other waste sites. Significant amounts of scrap plastic are also produced by the manufacture of such large amounts of plastic, thereby also contributing to the waste problem. The thin walled container assemblies of my above identified parent application alleviate this problem to the extent of reducing the plastic required to form, for example, a one-gallon container by about fifty percent.
In order to fully utilize the advantages of the thin walled, flexible and disposable containers such as those described in my co-pending application Ser. Nos. 07/432, U.S. Pat. No. 07/576,080 filed Aug. 31, 1990, it is desirable to provide a carrier which will securely hold a thin walled container during use, and particularly during pouring. In other words, while the thin walled containers disclosed in my copending applications are sufficiently strong as to be sold (and used) separately as replacements or refills on the shelf with no supporting carrier, the use of the container and particularly the pouring of contents therefrom is made easier and less prone to spilling, because the user need not directly grasp the flexible sidewall of the container.
Suitable carriers for thin walled, flexible, collapsible containers are also disclosed in my above identified co-pending application Ser. Nos. 07/432,672 and 07/576,080; as well as in my prior U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,982,868 and 4,982,869.
The present invention provides yet other easy to use, low cost, reusable carriers for thin walled or other containers.
In one exemplary embodiment, the present invention provides a carrier which includes cooperable frame and basket components, preferably but not necessarily made of plastic material. Specifically, a unitary frame member is provided which includes a container neck engaging portion at an upper end, with integrally formed side portions which extend downwardly away from the container neck engaging portion, and a bottom wall portion which connects the side portions. In other words, the frame is in the form of a closed, relatively rigid loop which substantially completely encircles or surrounds the container in a substantially vertical plane.
The frame component itself has a cross section similar to that of an I-beam, which is particularly advantageous in that it not only rigidifies the frame member, but also provides a convenient surface configuration for supporting the basket component as further described below.
The basket portion of the carrier assembly is a one-piece, cup-like construction, and includes a peripheral side wall, an open top and a closed bottom wall. The side wall is formed with two relatively short and diametrically opposed portions, and two relatively tall diametrically opposed portions. This arrangement conserves material and lowers the cost of the assembly. The lower portions facilitate assembly or introduction of the container into the basket, while the taller or upstanding portions provide greater peripheral support for the container. In this exemplary embodiment, in the upstanding portions there are also formed diametrically opposed ears having outwardly facing grooves adapted to receive one of the two flanges of the I-beam like cross section of the frame member. In other words, the diametrically opposed ears are provided with grooves which enable the basket to slide along the side portions of the frame, and to be removably secured to the frame.
The bottom wall portion of the basket is provided with arcuate, diametrically opposed support legs which project downwardly from the bottom wall and which extend about 160.degree. on either side of a center line of the bottom wall, thereby leaving a recessed center portion which enables the basket to seat on the frame bottom portion member with the supporting legs adapted to engage a supporting surface such as a table or the like. This arrangement permits the frame member to be seated in the recessed area and flush with or slightly offset upwardly from the supporting leg portions so as not to interfere with the stability of the assembly afforded by the support legs.
In another exemplary embodiment, vertical grooves are formed along the length of the upstanding portions of the peripheral side wall of the basket component. The frame component is sized so that the side portions snap into place within the diametrically opposed grooves. The vertical grooves may be formed continuously with a groove extending across the bottom wall of the basket component so that the frame component (when in place) is fully seated in a continuous generally U-shaped groove extending across the bottom of the basket and along diametrically opposed portions of the side wall.
In still another exemplary embodiment, one upstanding peripheral portion is considerably taller than the other, thereby further facilitating insertion of a container within the assembly.
Since (in all embodiments) the basket is supported within the frame at the two diametrically opposed, upstanding portions of the basket as well as along the bottom wall of the basket, when a container is in place in the basket with its neck portion frictionally engaged by the neck support portion of the frame, an overall relatively rigid assembly is provided which facilitates easy pouring of the contents of the container without danger of any relative slipping movement between any of the frame, basket and container.
It will be appreciated that the containers per se are intended to be disposed of after use, but the basket and frame assembly is re-usable with other similar containers purchased as "refills".
Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the detailed description which follows.